Graduation Day

Well, we are going to go back in time to the Friday before Christmas, December 19th. Why, well that was Anthony's Graduation Day! Although he finished classes in September the ceremony was in December. It was held at the Anaheim Marriott hotel with about 250 graduates. Anthony worked really hard the last 4 years and everyone is so proud of him. It was a fun ceremony, a bit on the artistic side, with a good speaker and many proud parents.

Here are some pictures:

Congratulations!!!

Christmas in Yorkshire

Well, we are back home now. We had a great trip and really enjoyed seeing everyone. We started off the trip mainly doing some shopping. Here is the view of some shops in York. It wasn't too bad in the morning but the wind picked up in the afternoon and the temperature dropped pretty quickly.

I think one of the things Jamie enjoyed the most, other than being home and with family of course, was the food. A traditional Griffin Christmas dinner consists of ham, chicken, and/or roast beef, carrots, broccoli, green beans, sprouts, potatoes, stuffing, and yorkshire puddings (Well, the yorkshire puddings aren't always there but this year they made an appearance).

***Please note - There were 2 types of potatoes, roast and boiled, as well as pigs in blankets

Here's Martin and Jean (Jamie's grandparents), David and Jamie before dinner on Boxing Day.

Mark, his older brother, and his his fiancé Lisa.

Above, is the Christmas Cracker. Tom Smith, a baker of wedding cakes from Clerkenwell, London, invented the Christmas cracker in 1847. A cracker is made of cardboard tubing wrapped in decorated paper to resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. It's pulled by two people, when broken in half one side is larger than the other, much like a wishbone. When in breaks there is a small snap, kind of like a cap gun. There is usually a toy, joke, and paper crown inside. Below is the largest cracker I've seen. Karen bought it for dinner or tea (In parts of England dinner is refered to as tea and lunch is called dinner, very confusing for me at times) at Jamie's Grans' house.

Below, is a picture of Jamie's brothers and his Dad on Boxing Day.

It was a fun trip but a bit tiring as we only were there a week. We are back at work today and I'm exhausted. It's just after 11 am and I'm ready for bed. Wonder if anyone would miss me if I disappeared for a quick/long nap?

A Happy Christmas from Yorkshire

Well, we've made it to England without any major problems. It was snowing in Chicago when we landed but boarded the plane on time. Although it took an hour to get de-iced and take off we were only 20 minutes late arriving in Manchester. You know you have landed in the right place when your plane goes around a roundabout to get to the gate! The weather has been pretty mild, no snow yet to Jamie's disappointment. We've mostly done last minute shopping in Hull and York and been seeing family.

Above is a picture of York Minster, the largest Medieval Gothic cathedral north of the Alps and a treasure house of 800 years of stained glass and a great place to shop. Also above is a picture of a white rose, the symbol of Yorkshire (Lancashire is red, remember the war of the roses...)

Hope everyone has a Happy Christmas and we will upload our pictures when we get back.

Traditions

Saturday was all about Tamales, a Saldana Christmas tradition. My Mom and Dad spent all morning preparing the meat and chili, we only do it once a year so their was plenty of head scratching as to how we did it last year. But they came through and the meat and chili was amazing, thank you. Our friends, Kenny & Jill, came over to help and learn the art of tamale making. Here's a little history of the tamale: A tamale is a traditional, indigenous Mexican food. It consists of steam-cooked corn dough, called masa, with a filling, we used pork, chili & cheese, wrapped in a corn husk. Tamales were developed as a portable ration for use by war parties in the ancient Americas, and were as ubiquitous and varied as the sandwich is today.

I have to say Kenny and Jill are amazingly fast learners and quickly took the process and made it their own. We made 10 dozen tamales, some pork, some chili & cheese, and making a new appearance this year: pork, chili and cheese hybrids, courtesy of Kenny, thanks for thinking outside the box. A very welcome addition. We all had a blast.

During our fun filled, messy, and creative experience Jamie learned a new word - Kitty-Corner: located diagonally across from something, especially across an intersection. A word he couldn't figure out but one he'll always remember.

After that it was off to Pasadena for some Christmas traditions of Kenny and Jill's. We saw Christmas lights, decorations, and did a bit of shopping. It was such good fun and quite possibly a new tradition to get into the holiday season.

Jamie is struggling just a bit to get into the season without the cold weather but it was a chilly night with music, decorations, and hot cocoa. It seemed to have done the job.

So can we get a hoorah for new traditions!

and a hip, hip, horrah for good friends!!!

"It is said that the present is pregnant with the future." ~ Voltaire

Your wish is my command Mr. Griffin! XoXo

Unusual Present...

So I have had a bit of time to surf the net for gift ideas. I have to say the gift that stuck out the most was the one pictured here. A personalized leather fly swatter with Italian bridle leather and a handmade American oak handle. Described as "a conversation piece you'll actually use."

Coming in at a competitively priced $56.50.

Seriously guys, someone must be buying these. I know you're out there. For those of you who see this as a must have buy this Christmas, please click here.

To Do List

Finish Christmas Shopping


Decorate House and Hang Icicle Lights


Mail Christmas Cards


Start Enjoying Holiday Season

I'm not sure about you guys but we had a very productive weekend :)

Rewind!

Wait a minute! Back-up, rewind, stop the presses, let's start over.

I would like to introduce Toby!

He loves playing in his yard, running around with his monkey (a stuffed animal I refer to as mono) and bringing in sticks, pine cones and whatever else he can find in his yard.

**Well, Frasier just didn't fit, it took about a week to decide but my mom has made her decision.

Pasadena & A Puppy

Well, the long holiday weekend has come to an end. It's been an amazing 4 days. We both really needed the time off and wished we had more 4 day weekends throughout the year. Thanksgiving went perfectly. Our Chili Glazed Turkey came out wonderfully. It was moist, had a bit of spice to it, and was something different than the norm. Everything was ready at the same time and the meal was so enjoyable, even if we were finished in less than 40 minutes. Even Grandpa cleaned his plate. But as always dessert is the highlight of the meal. There is nothing better than pumpkin and cherry pie. My Aunt Nancy and my mom make the best pies and it's just not Thanksgiving without a slice of each! Unfortunately, we were a bit preoccupied with cooking and didn't take any pictures. But Jamie and I did make our own pumpkin pie at our house on Friday. Apart for baking on Friday, we did more stuff around the house. Mainly painted doors and Jamie dug out roots in the backyard. On Saturday, we took a trip to Pasadena to tour the old neighborhoods and architecture. They have self guided pamphlets you can take with 10 different walking tours of the historic neighborhoods in the area. The pamphlets were alright but didn't have much info on them. Nothing seems to compare to Oxford. They have walking tours of the city, but they are a podcast, so you can download them to your ipod and print out a map. Then you can listen while you walk the city. It's a brilliant idea; convenient and much more user friendly then those hand held recordings at museums, plus less material is being used so it's better for the environment. Hopefully, everyone else will catch up and use new technology like this. At least Oxford is ahead of the game. Here are some of the buildings we saw.
Lastly, there is a new addition to the family. I would like to introduce Frasier. He is 8 weeks old and was flown in from Georgia on Friday. My mom has been looking for a new puppy for a while now and fell in love with him online. He is a Sharpei and a real doll. The plane ride over was a new experience for him but he is adjusting quickly to his new home.